Massage Chair Industry Update – June 25, 2014

July 7, 2014
 By Dr. Alan Weidner
July 7, 2014
 By Dr. Alan Weidner

Massage Chair Industry Update – June 25, 2014

Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – June 25, 2014”

updateAlan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update for today, June 25th, Wednesday, June 25th, 2014.

[SCREEN TEXT: Happy July 1st and July 4th!!]

Alan: We’re coming up on the July 1st and July 4th weekend. I say July 1st, because we go to Canada to celebrate the July 1st Independence Day, that’s where my wife and I are from. So, we head out there this week to make our annual pilgrimage to Southern Alberta, and then up to Edmonton, where I’m from, to visit family and friends. I hope you have a good holiday, and look forward to seeing you in two more weeks after this video.

[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]

Alan: Anyway, as far as stock goes, with the massage chairs, the Inada Sogno ‘Crème’ is still back-ordered until July 16th, and Osaki is back-ordered on all colors of the 7200H, the ‘Taupe’ 7075R, and the 7200CR models, and there’s no estimated time of arrival. They’re waiting for those chairs to come in, but they’re not in yet, but stay tuned, and I’ll let you know when they are in. As far as stock for other companies go, as far as I know, everything’s in stock, so I think we’re good to go with any other, any other chair model that you might be interested in.

[SCREEN TEXT: New Panasonic MA73 Model!]

Alan: OK, I think I told you last time, I can’t remember if I told you last time, but Panasonic’s come out with a new model, the MA73, and the MA73 is basically the MA70, as far as the look of the chair goes, with a few extra features. For example, it’s got double-heated massage rollers. Now, I don’t know what that means, I’ve requested information to understand what that means, and I’ve not heard back from Panasonic about that. As a matter of fact, Panasonic has only sent me one picture of the MA73, and I just received it this morning. It’s a black chair, and I think black’s the only color they have, but it’s, the picture’s black on black, it’s not a great picture, but it’s the only one they have. So, the chair is that new, and I’ve not seen it, to be able to take any pictures. The only difference as far as the aesthetics go, is that – the only difference is that, the armrest on the MA70 is a faux wood armrest, on the MA73, it’s upholstery, just like the rest of the chair – that’s the only difference I can tell, looking at it straight on. So, it has a double-heated massage roller, so – and oh, by the way, and that says ‘Sole and upper body,’ oh, so maybe what that means is – and I never saw the sole and upper body part before, but the MA70 has jade stone rollers that are heated, with little heating elements, next to the rollers, and it looks like this chair, by the way, does have foot rollers. It looks like it has heated foot rollers in the soles of the feet. So, the MA73 is the MA70 plus sole foot rollers, a sole heater, so heated foot rollers, or at least, a heated foot roller, and then heated rollers in the back. It also has a neck stretch. Now, the MA70 has a shoulder and an arm stretch program, and now it’ll have a neck, the MA73 has a neck stretch program. It also has an extended leg rest, so the legs will cater to an even taller body, and now, it doesn’t tell me how tall of a body it’ll cater to. The MA70 catered to a 6′ 2″ body, perhaps now, they’re going to go up to a 6′ 4″ body, but everything else seems to be the same. It’s got the same body scan, same roller system, same airbags, 33 airbags, about 12 to 1300 square inches of body coverage by airbag and roller massage. Oh, you know what, it says here, I take that back, it says that it has a wood finish arm. So, the picture, and you’ll see the picture on the website, when we put the picture up, it has, it looks like, on the picture anyway, that it is a faux leather, a synthetic leather, upholstery. Well, it says here that the arm has a wood finish, so the chair probably looks exactly like the MA70, except with a few features that’re added to it. The last feature that they list, as a differential, is the 5-degree elbow rest, and a 10-degree palm rest. So, I assume that they’ve altered the way, the way that the armrest is positioned, to either have the, it looks like, the elbow’s going to be a little bit lower, and maybe the palm’s a little bit lower as well, to maybe give it a more ergonomically correct feel. So, that is the MA73, and that chair we should have up on our website pretty soon, and when I saw pretty soon, I mean with the next few days. Also, as I told you, the Inada Flex 3S, new model, is on our website now, and you can order that chair.

[SCREEN TEXT: The Amazing Bed – 1st Deep Tissue Massage Bed]

Alan: Also, we have added, and I may, I think I alluded to this last week, or two weeks ago, but we are now carrying a product called The Amazing Bed. It’s by a company called Innovative Standards, out of Kansas City. They contacted us last year, the tail end of last year, and they’ve been asking me to carry their product, and I’ve been a little hesitant to do so because I specialize in massage chairs. You’ll notice I don’t have hand massagers, or neck, you know, like, other little accessory massagers, even massaging ottomans. I don’t carry anything other than massage chairs, that is it, no other types of recliners, even the Perfect Chair, which I carry, I only carry those that have airbag massage. Well, the massage bed is not a chair, but it is a bed that has a massage system in it, and it’s not a vibration system, it is an actual deep tissue massage system, like a massage chair. However, the mechanism is very different. It doesn’t have a cavity where the roller track is, so you can lay on this bed, you’re not going to have a cavity, where your back will hit when you’re not using the massager. The massager itself is not a roller, they’re balls, they’re metal balls on, kind of on this, stem that extends down below the mattress, and this stem glides between cubes of memory foam. They’re like on a – I think there’s four cubes on a queen, and four cubes on a king, and a California king – but there were these cubes, and they call them butter cubes at Innovative Standards. They put these cubes next to each other, and then between the cubes, where the crack is, that’s where the massage stem goes up and down, with these metal balls at the end, quad balls, so it’s like a quad roller, and it goes up and down your back. Now, it’s not really a roller, it’s a fixed ball, on a fixed stem, and it can’t roll, and it makes sense, because you’ve got all this material that it’s going to be going by, you know, the upholstery of the memory foam, you’ve got the mattress cover, it’s all just a nice, pliable, soft upholstery. Well, if you had rollers, you could see how maybe a thread could get caught, or the material could get caught, and it would bunch up, and seize up the rollers. Well, these are just metal balls, that don’t roll, they’re just fixed, and it glides up and down your back, it’s smooth because it’s a polished metal ball, but it’s pretty cool. When we went, my wife and I flew out there last November, and we actually stayed at a hotel there in Kansas City that had this bed in it, in one of the rooms, and we slept in it. It was great, I mean, it was a great massage, and we lied on our back – plus you get this roller massage from your calves all the way up to your neck – you know, massage chairs don’t have calf rollers for the most part, and even those that do, are not that great yet, or not that advanced, but this has got this stem of rollers that go all the way from the neck down to the low, to the calves. The neat thing is that you can lie on your back, or sorry, on your side, and you get the rollers going up and down the side of your body. So, you’re getting the thighs massaged, you’re getting some of the gluteal tissue massaged, you’re getting some of the serratus anterior muscles massaged, on the side of your ribs, and your shoulders, it’s pretty cool, it’s a pretty cool variation of the massage chair capacity. So, anyway, it’s The Amazing Bed, it’s pretty cool. They’re not cheap, I mean, they’ve got queen, king, and California king. When you – if you go on our, if you go on my blog, you’ll see I wrote an article today, about it, as a matter of fact – that talks about some of the features, and it has some pictures to show you what’s going on. It’s a sophisticated roller system, and it’s proprietary to this company, and patented in the United States, and it’s all made in the United States. It’s a 100% American-made product, and it’s a little bit more expensive, but when you see what goes into it, it’s pretty elaborate, pretty, a pretty robust massaging mechanism, and motor, and inner components. The chairs run, sorry, the bed runs – and you can get rollers on one side of the bed, or both sides of the bed, like for example, one of the beds is about $9000, I think that’s a – well, all of them, I think, are in the $9000 range, for one roller. For the second roller, you add another, I think, another $3000 to $4000 for the second roller, and then you’ve got the massage system on both sides, but it’s actually a very, very cool bed, and I really, really like it. It’s got a memory foam, it’s a standard memory foam, it’ll fit any, a standard memory foam mattress size, and it’ll fit any standard frame, it’ll fit any standard sheeting, standard sheeting system, for beds. It’s really, a very, very nice bed, and I think you will love it.

[SCREEN TEXT: Display Model in Our Showroom]

Alan: We actually got a single, or a twin, or whatever you want to call it, in our showroom. It’s not in the main showroom, because our showroom is kind of small, and it’s full of 14 massage chairs, but it is big enough that – I mean, it’s small enough that we can get it in the back of the showroom – and so we’ve got a little area there, where people can come and lie on this bed, and actually feel it, and experience it, very cool. So, I just thought I would tell you that, and you can, we have the product up on the website, so you can check it out.

[SCREEN TEXT: Congratulations to Luraco – Export Achievement Award!]

Alan: Also, I thought I would mention that Luraco just received an award, it’s an Export Achievement Award, for the amount of exporting that they do. As you know, Luraco is an American company, it’s an Asian-owned American company, owned by some Vietnamese brothers, and it’s a great company, they produce the iRobotics 6S massage chair. I went and visited them last year, you can see the videotape from the visit, of their assembly and testing plant, and of their showroom, and of their main offices, good people, but they produce a lot of products, it’s not just massage chairs. They work some defense contracts, they make specific components for hot tubs and spas, they’re a pretty active company, and a good bunch of guys, a really good bunch of guys, I really enjoyed visiting with them. I also did a, I think a Skype, yeah, it was a Skype interview with them, when I got back from visiting them in Texas. So, you know, go on, and check out the visit, and check out what they do, but they received an award for the amount of exporting that they do, which is kind of cool. It’s kind of cool to see an American company export their products as opposed to importing everything. So, anyway, congratulations to Luraco.

[SCREEN TEXT: 18 Month 0% Interest Financing from GE Capital – June 25 – July 8]

Alan: Now, GE Capital, I have mentioned this in the past, but we offer 6 and 12-month financing on our chairs, and now on the bed, so you get 6 to 12 months, zero interest financing, through GE Capital. We only offer 18-month, 0% financing, on certain times of the year, when they lower the processing fee, so it doesn’t cost me as much to process a financing, you know, a GE financing order application. So, I just wanted to let you know that this week, starting today, June 25th until July 8th, two weeks, you can get 18-month financing, 0% interest financing, on any of our chairs, or the beds, because the processing rates are dropped. So, if you want the financing, it’s a great time to do it, 18 months, I know people wait for that, and wait for that announcement, so here’s the announcement.

[SCREEN TEXT: GE Capital now Synchrony Bank]

Alan: I also received notification that GE Capital Bank has changed its name to Synchrony Bank, so within 60 days, all of the GE Capital paperwork and paraphernalia will all be changed to Synchrony. That’s S-Y-N-C-H-R-O-N-Y Bank, and they will be taking – I guess the interface is all the same on the website for the application, and processing of applications, and you will still fill out a form – but instead of GE Capital, it’ll say Synchrony Bank. So, you’ll start to see a change, from GE Capital to Synchrony Bank, that is OK, don’t, it’s not a, it’s not like a lesser company, or a cheaper company, or a worse company, it’s GE, but just under a different name, so that is good to know.

[SCREEN TEXT: “The Ultimate Massage Chair Buyer’s Guide”]

Alan: Also, hey, guess what I just, guess what we just got the final copy of, or final proof of, is my book ‘The Ultimate Massage Chair Buyer’s Guide.’ It’s about 200 pages, it’s how to select the perfect massage chair for your home or business. I just got the proof from the publishing agent this week, and it will be on Amazon, on Kindle, shortly, as well as we’ll have some hard copies available, if anybody wants to have a hard copy sent to them. This is a book that I put a lot of time in to, a lot of energy, and it’s really the first book of its kind in our industry that actually walks you through all the things that you need to know about buying a massage chair, and I’m quite proud of it. It’s nothing fancy, I mean, the cover is – it’s not, it’s not like, it’s not a, you know, super cool graphics, and even the pictures inside – because it was cheaper, I got the black-and-white pictures, instead of the color, which would’ve cost double the amount, and I’m a pretty frugal guy at heart. Anyway, that book is out, or has been completed, so we’ll have it out for download pretty soon, and I believe that through the Amazon agreement, we can offer, for five days, we can offer a free download for you on the Kindle. Anyway, I’ll tell you more about that as we get it ready for distribution, but FYI, that book is, it’ll be very helpful book, there’s a lot of good information in there. I’ve pooled everything that I’ve learned over the years, I’ve taken about 100 pages of articles as well, that I’ve written in my blog, that’re very, much more generally, targeted, to talk about all types of topics in the massage chair world, and those articles are there also as part of the resources, and as part of the appendix. Anyway, hopefully you’ll find that book helpful, and of course, we’ll tweak it, and if there’s any recommendations for changes that need to be made, let me know.

[SCREEN TEXT: Johnson Massage Chairs]

Alan: Oh, another thing, I had the guy – Nick Breese from – he’s the guy that runs the Johnson massage chair division, and we carried the Johnson chairs very briefly, because we put them on our website, we bought a floor model, and then they told us that they didn’t want any online marketing of their chairs. So, we had to take everything down off the website, and I sold the floor model, but we’ve kind of, we’re maintaining a relationship. He came by, and we talked for a couple hours, and I love talking to people in the business, it’s so fun, because they know so much more than I do, of the ins and outs of production, and what’s going on with, you know, who’s making what, and with what components, and where it’s coming from. I actually enjoy hearing that insider stuff, and Nick was great, he knew a lot of stuff. He’s a young guy, geez, I think of myself at that age, I didn’t even know, you know, I was probably still drinking out of a, drinking out of a bottle. Anyway, this guy’s pretty sharp, and seems to really have a good handle, and grasp, on the industry, and the Johnson chairs are good chairs, but we’re just not going to be able to promote them until, you know, we have, until we have it on our website, and that, and we’re not allowed to do it just yet. Anyway, I had a good visit with him.

[SCREEN TEXT: “The Go-Giver”]

Alan: You know, I was going to recommend another book to you, it’s a book that I read about a year ago, and I love this book, it’s called ‘The Go-Giver.’ The attitude in ‘The Go-Giver,’ it’s – the subtitle is ‘A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea’ – and you know, I guess the traditional view of business is, you just go get what you want, and you step on whoever you need to step on to get what you want, and take no prisoners, and you’ve got to be, you know, you’ve got to be unscrupulous, you’ve got to be a shark. You’ve got to go out there, and just kill the prey, and you know, at whatever cost, and you know, I’m not that kind of a guy. I’m kind of a guy that, I’m kind of passive, even though I get pretty funky when I’m on the ice playing hockey, or when my kids break curfew. Anyway, the bottom line is, that’s not my approach, I’m not the kind of guy that’ll just go after stuff, at the expense of anybody else, or anything else, you know, I’ve got a family, I’ve got a church, I’ve got a neighborhood, I’ve got other things that give me balance, and that I really enjoy. That’s probably hurt me through my, you know, 50+ years in business, or 50 + years alive, and you know, 30+ years in business. It’s probably hurt me, in some instances, but when I read this book, it was so congruent with the way that I thought about things, and the whole, the paradigm shift is, when you give, you get. It’s like that old karma gig, the more you give, the more you get. So, if you’re a ‘go-giver’ instead of a go-getter, the notion is the more you give, the more that will come back to you, and you know what, I have found in my life that, that is true. I have found, in most instances, it doesn’t always happen this way, because you can give love, and not get it back from the people that you love the most, sometimes that can happen. Or you can give whatever, there’s sometimes you give, and there is no return, but that’s OK, because the spirit of it is giving. The spirit of it is, the spirit of giving is not to get, it’s not – like I don’t give, to get – I give because I enjoy giving, and I like the feeling I get when I give, and it just makes me feel better about myself. Well, the idea of ‘The Go-Giver’ is that when you give, things do come back to you, and you do get, and goodness will come from a spirit of giving. I truly, truly believe that, even though, again, you can’t quantify every instance of giving, and say ‘Well, I gave this, and I got that.’ It doesn’t always work that way, but the general karma, or the general energy cycle is, you know, good things will come to you, and I love that philosophy, and so this is much more congruent with the way that I do business. I enjoy taking care of people, sometimes I give too much, sometimes I don’t give enough, but the bottom line is, my heart is good, and most people do have a good heart, most people are not sharks that are out for the kill. Most people are just good people, and I’m not saying sharks are bad people, but what I’m saying is, most people are just trying to create this good thing in their lives. It’s just a quick little book, a quick read, I love it, I think it’s a great business book, and so I just thought I’d throw that out to you. I’m not a, I’m not a mentor of any sort, or any kind of a guy that gives business advice, because I’ve had probably more failures in business than I’ve had successes, but I love that book, and I love how congruent it is with the way things are rolling in the way that I run my business now. Anyway, that, I just meant to throw that in, just as a little aside, I hope I didn’t take up too much time, but anyway, if you have a chance, read that book.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: Well, that’s about it for this week. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call at 888-259-5380, you can email me, chat with me anytime. If you found this video helpful, please feel free to ‘+1’ us, to share us, to tweet us, to whatever it is that you got to do to help spread the word about massage chairs. Of course, subscribe to our YouTube channel so when we come out with subsequent videos, and I come out with quite a few, you’ll be updated, you’ll be the first to know. So, again, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ thanks so much for visiting today, and we will see you again in two more weeks. Bye bye.

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